Being a Fair Player: How Dentons Supported Sydney WorldPride 2023

Published on 15 June 2023 by Elouise Casey Fair Play aims to support the LGBTQI+ community by providing information about health, safety and legal issues to people attending Mardi Gras events, particularly in relation to police drug operations.

Over the weekends of 25 and 26 February and 4 and 5 March 2023, staff of Dentons joined lawyers from the Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) and other volunteers at the official Sydney Mardi Gras and Sydney WorldPride 2023 parties.  They were there not as party goers themselves, but to provide support to members of the LGBTQI+ community attending the events.  The role of volunteers was to monitor the operations of police and provide legal information and support to people who had been searched or questioned by them.

The initiative, Fair Play (originally known as Project Blue), is run by the ICLC in partnership with ACON, Australia’s largest sexuality and gender diverse community health organisation, and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.  

Elouise is a Senior Associate in the banking and finance regulation and compliance team at Dentons. Elouise is the coordinator of the Trans and Gender Diverse Legal Service, which is the first pro bono legal service in Australia for the trans and gender diverse community (run in partnership with the Inner City Legal Centre). In addition to coordinating the service for Dentons, Elouise is a volunteer solicitor with the service, and is also a member of the steering committee for Dentons’ LGBTQI+ network.